How to make a typewriter effect in After Effects

UI animation

5 min read

Four ways to type text on screen in After Effects: the built-in presets, a text animator, an expression with a blinking cursor and a free one-click effect.

What you’ll learn

The Typewriter preset sits under Animation Presets > Text > Animate In.
For a hard, typed look, set the Range Selector's Smoothness to 0%.
A Source Text expression adds a cursor that keeps blinking after the typing ends.
MotionUI's Typewriter effect is free and types many text layers at once.

A typewriter effect reveals text one character at a time, as if someone were typing it. After Effects can do this out of the box. The real question is how much control you want over the speed, the rhythm and the blinking cursor.

Here are four ways to build it, from a double-click preset to an expression you can tune, and when each one makes sense.

The short answer

Fastest: apply the built-in Typewriter preset from Effects & Presets.
Most control over timing: build it with a text animator, Opacity at 0% and a Range Selector with Smoothness at 0%.
With a blinking cursor: use a Source Text expression, or the Blinking Cursor Typewriter Console preset in recent versions.
On many text layers at once, with your own easing: the free Typewriter effect in MotionUI.

1. The built-in Typewriter preset

Select your text layer and move the playhead to where the typing should start.
Open Window > Effects & Presets and type Typewriter into the search field. It lives under Animation Presets > Text > Animate In.
Double-click the preset. Press U to show the two keyframes it added.
Drag the second keyframe closer to type faster, or farther away to type slower.

Recent versions of After Effects also include a preset called Blinking Cursor Typewriter Console. Search for "Blinking Cursor" to find it. It types the text and adds a cursor whose shape, blink speed and opacity you can change on the layer. Users report that the cursor can't get its own font, so if you need a specific cursor look, use the expression in method 3.

2. Build it with a text animator

The preset is a text animator underneath. Building one yourself takes a minute and shows you which controls matter.

Twirl open your text layer and click Animate > Opacity.
Set the animator's Opacity to 0%. All characters disappear, because the range covers the whole text.
Open Range Selector 1 > Advanced and set Smoothness to 0%. At the default of 100%, each letter fades in. At 0% it pops on like a typed key.
Keyframe Start from 0% at the first frame to 100% at the last. As the range slides off the text, the characters appear from left to right.
Leave those keyframes linear for an even rhythm. An ease makes the typing speed up and slow down.

Under Advanced > Based On, choose Characters Excluding Spaces so spaces don't cost time, or Words to reveal word by word. To pause after a comma or a period, add a pair of keyframes on Start with the same value. The typing stops for as long as the gap between them.

3. A Source Text expression with a blinking cursor

If you want a cursor that blinks while the text types and keeps blinking after it, an expression is the most flexible route. Twirl open Text > Source Text, hold Option (Alt on Windows) and click its stopwatch, then paste:

var speed = 15;   // characters per second
var blink = 1;    // cursor blinks per second
var txt = value;
var count = Math.floor(Math.max(0, time - inPoint) * speed);
var typing = count < txt.length;
var on = typing || Math.floor(time * blink * 2) % 2 == 0;
txt.substr(0, count) + (on ? "|" : "");

var speed = 15;   // characters per second
var blink = 1;    // cursor blinks per second
var txt = value;
var count = Math.floor(Math.max(0, time - inPoint) * speed);
var typing = count < txt.length;
var on = typing || Math.floor(time * blink * 2) % 2 == 0;
txt.substr(0, count) + (on ? "|" : "");

var speed = 15;   // characters per second
var blink = 1;    // cursor blinks per second
var txt = value;
var count = Math.floor(Math.max(0, time - inPoint) * speed);
var typing = count < txt.length;
var on = typing || Math.floor(time * blink * 2) % 2 == 0;
txt.substr(0, count) + (on ? "|" : "");

The text you typed into the layer stays the source, so you can still edit it. The typing starts at the layer's in point: drag the layer in the timeline to change when it begins. Change speed to type faster or slower, and replace "|" with "_" or a block character for a terminal look.

Two things to know. Set the paragraph to left-aligned, because a centered line shifts every time a character or the cursor appears. And keep the styling simple: a Source Text expression is meant for text that uses one style throughout. If a line mixes fonts or colors, use the text animator from method 2.

4. MotionUI's Typewriter effect, free

MotionUI is an After Effects panel for UI and product animation. Its Text tab has ten text effects, and Typewriter is one of the two in the free plan, together with Fade Up.

Install MotionUI and open the panel under Window > Extensions > MotionUI.
Select one or more text layers. They can all be typed in one go.
In the Text tab, click Typewriter. Choose Based on (characters, characters excluding spaces, words or lines), the Direction (In, Out or Both) and the Length in seconds.
Under Flow, keep the effect default, which types quickly and settles at the end, or pick linear for a steady, mechanical rhythm. You can also reuse the curve you drew in the Animate tab.
Click Apply to Text Layer.

MotionUI builds a regular text animator like the one in method 2, so you can open it and change the keyframes later. Each character fades in over a frame or two, which reads as typing at normal speed. For a harder pop, set Smoothness to 0% under Range Selector 1 > Advanced. Both also adds the exit, where the text disappears character by character before the layer ends. Typewriter doesn't add a cursor. When the cursor matters, use the expression from method 3 on that layer instead.

The other eight effects, among them Blur Reveal, Pop In and Spin & Track, and the animated text gradient are part of MotionUI Pro. For choosing between them in an interface, see how to animate UI text without losing readability.

How to make it look like real typing

Type at a readable speed. Around 10 to 20 characters per second works for most videos. Faster looks like a glitch, slower makes people wait.
Pause at punctuation. A short hold after commas and periods feels human. Hold keyframes in method 2 do this.
Type the key line, show the rest. A search query, a prompt or a headline reads well as typing. A paragraph doesn't. Fade the long copy in instead.
Pick the font for the context. A monospace font sells a terminal or code editor. A UI font like Inter fits a search field or a chat input.
Match the sound. If you add key clicks, line them up with the characters, not just roughly with the clip.

Frequently asked questions

Where is the Typewriter preset in After Effects?

In the Effects & Presets panel under Animation Presets > Text > Animate In. The quickest way is to type "Typewriter" into the panel's search field.

How do I change the typing speed?

With the preset or a text animator, move the keyframes on Range Selector Start closer together or farther apart. With the expression, change the speed variable. In MotionUI, set the Length before you apply the effect.

How do I add a blinking cursor?

Use the Blinking Cursor Typewriter Console preset in recent versions of After Effects, or the Source Text expression in this guide, which shows a cursor while typing and blinks once the text is complete.